A place of stories and everyday living on the Gaspe Coast. I am a storyteller, a writer and a great listener. I will use this site to share some of the wisdom that I have learned on my own life's journey through the insightful art of storytelling, music, beauty and folklore of this amazing place.

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Monday, July 8, 2013

Becka's Inn

Becka Snowdon was born in a small town. Her parents were normal folks who worked hard and brought up their five girls to be strong independent women. Becka was the youngest and most head strong. She never accepted doing the ordinary and always seemed to want more out of life. When she was fourteen she told her mother that she wanted to run away with the circus. Then at fifteen, she wanted to be an actress. At sixteen she fell in love with a travelling salesman and had her heart broken. At seventeen she ran away from home telling her parents not to worry about her.

When she was twenty she returned home with two children and no husband. She moved back in with her parents and decided that she wanted a house of her own. Her father tried to explain to her that she could not afford it and her mother just turned away and helped her raise the new grandchildren.

Becka spent her first year trying to decide how she was going to make a living and buy the old Duncan's house. It had been abandoned ever since she was a child. Apparently it still belonged to their son who had never came back again after his mother died ten years ago. It was a big dusty old place with broken windows and faded paint. The yard was all grown up in trees, bushes and burdocks and Becka wanted it.

Without telling anyone she found the address of the owner and wrote to him. He answered and said he had almost forgotten about the place, since his attorney paid the taxes without ever discussing it anymore. He would make a trip to town next month and would be willing to meet with her and discuss the possibility of selling it.

Becka told no one. When he arrived, they met at the old place. He was in disbelief at the state of his childhood home. It had once been a magnificent building that his parents had been so proud to own. Unfortunately there had been a disagreement over the estate after his mother died. His uncle claimed he had loaned his brother money years before and wanted the house as a payment towards his loss. Without any proof, the judge dismissed the case. Once his rightful ownership had been settled, he left and vowed to never set foot in the town again. He closed the place up and went on to make a fortune as a real estate developer in Western Canada. Becka could see that he was dealing with what seemed like regrets from the past and the fact that he had left the house fall to such ruin.

He asked what Becka wanted to do with the house and she told him she wanted to renovate it and turn it into a small hotel for travelling tourists and business men.

Two years later, on a sunny morning in June, "The Becka Inn" was opened for business. It was a beautiful building that had been completely renovated inside and out. A new addition had been added to accommodate more visitors and have greater potential for profitability. The gardens were in full bloom and the scent of lilacs filled the air. The townspeople were all invited for the open house celebration. Becka's family was all there and her sister was going to help her run the place. Her new husband was at her side as well. He had returned home to sell an old house and found himself selling everything he owned to fix it up and turn it into an Inn with his new wife.

Life is a journey with many twist and turns and you must never say never!

You
are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most
important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you
now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you
have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this
decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.

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About Me

My name is Mary, I am a woman and I have a story, just like all of you.

From an early age I was an observer and a storyteller who had a wonderful imagination.I enjoyed listening to others because I had a need to figure out their stories and wanted to understand them. Growing up, life happened... the days of my life turned into the pages of, what seemed, at times an unbelievable story.

I tried to handle each challenge with all the kindness and understanding that I could find within me, as each new scar settled into my broken innocence.

Now, I realize that each player who became a part of my life was living through their own dramatic story. Each being and acting the only way they knew how, according to the narrative they believed about themselves.

On July 22, 2013 my beautiful 25 year old daughter was operated for a brain tumor. It brought back the memories of losing my father to the same operation years ago. They took her in for her surgical procedure on a Sunday night. By 3 a.m. on Monday morning, after almost eight hours, it was over. We still did not know the details except that she was alive and that she responded to a few question when they woke her up minutes after the operation.

On Tuesday morning, the day after her surgery, the man who had been in my life for the past six years took his own life; it was surreal and impossible to believe. Inside, I was shattered but my daughter needed me and I knew that despite all the pain she was in, losing him would bring her more. At that moment I knew it was time to change my story.

I stepped back from the busyness of "normal" life, bowed my head and surrendered to the storm I was lost in. It was the most difficult challenge I had ever experienced and I knew that no one was coming to save me. No one could make it all better... .

My dream has always been to be a writer. I've longed to write about the lives of women from a personal and understanding perspective. I'm not a great writer... actually, far from it. I know I will never be a Jane Austin, nor an Emily Bronte; that is not the reason I write. My hope is that I can use my education, life experiences and story to encourage other women. My mother, who was my role model, always used to say that, "there are better days ahead". I believed her and have used those words throughout my life as a means of moving forward, despite the challenges that seemingly tried to block me.

As a student of the Simply Women Accredited Training Institute, I have the honor of working with the visionary empowerment coach and teacher Crystal Andrus, who is the head of a unique world wide women's empowerment educational movement.